<i>This is the Productive Out, as defined and developed by ESPN The Magazine and the Elias Sports Bureau: when a fly ball, grounder or bunt advances a runner with nobody out; when a pitcher bunts to advance a runner with one out (maximizing the effectiveness of the pitcher's at-bat), or when a grounder or fly ball scores a run with one out.</i>

Productive outs are code for small ball. This article does a good job of rebutting the Olney article:

http://tribescribe.blogspot.com/2003_11_30_tribescribe_archive.html

<i>...Olney's article makes the claim that teams that play "small-ball" are proportionately more successful in the playoffs than teams that emphasize walks and slugging (read: the A's) because their offense is more "diversified". The way Olney and Elias Sports Bureau purport to measure this is the painfully contrived statistic "Productive Outs"...

...OBP, Slugging and OPS all show a much stronger relationship than Productive Outs to post-season series winners. 73.2% of post-season series winners enjoyed an advantage over their opponent in OPS. The A's emphasis on OBP, not simply walks as Olney states, is redeemed by the 103 of 142 series winners that posted higher OBPs than the losers...</i>